1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scintillator panel having a photoreceptive region of a large area, a radiation detector using it and a method of making a scintillator panel.
2. Related Background Art
In the medical, industrial, and other fields, there are increasing needs for radiation detectors capable of quickly and accurately detecting and picking up radiation images. For meeting such needs, there are known radiation detectors, for example, provided with a scintillator for converting a radiation image into an optical image, an image pickup device for picking up such an optical image, and a lightguide optical member for guiding the optical image from the scintillator to the image pickup device.
Often used as the above lightguide optical member is an optical member in which optical fibers are arranged in parallel to each other and integrally formed in the density of several million fibers/cm2. It is because the optical member of this type is capable of transmitting an optical image entering its entrance end face, to its exit end face in a high resolution state and emitting the image from the exit end face.
Furthermore, for example, the radiation detectors disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H07-211877 are known as radiation detectors with a large photoreceptive surface capable of detecting and picking up the radiation image across a relatively wide range. Such radiation detectors are constructed of an array of radiation detecting units in each of which a scintillator is placed on the entrance end face of the optical member having the entrance end face and the exit end face perpendicular to each other while an image pickup device is placed on the exit end face.
The above radiation detectors, however, had the following problem. Namely, it was not easy to increase the area of the photoreceptive surface of the radiation detector, because the radiation detecting units including the optical members of a special shape (triangular prism shape) had to be arrayed so that their photoreceptive surfaces were aligned on an identical plane. There was also a limit to the increase of the area of the photoreceptive surface, e.g., because of restraints on arrangement of the image pickup devices. Therefore, it was not feasible to achieve the increase of the area enough to satisfy the needs coming from applications in the medical, industrial, and other fields.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above problem and an object of the invention is to provide a scintillator panel and a radiation detector capable of readily and adequately increasing the photoreceptive surface, and a method of making such scintillator panel.
In order to accomplish the above object, a scintillator panel of the present invention comprises a plurality of optical members of a flat plate shape, each optical member having a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel to each other and integrally formed and each optical member having an entrance end face and an exit end face substantially parallel to each other, wherein the optical members are arranged so that the entrance end faces thereof are placed on a substantially identical plane, wherein mutually adjoining side faces of the respective optical members are bonded to each other with an adhesive, and wherein a scintillator to emit light upon incidence of a radiation is deposited on the entrance end faces integrated by bonding the side faces. A radiation detector of the present invention comprises the above scintillator panel, and an image pickup device for picking up an optical image outputted from the exit end faces of the optical members.
The photoreceptive surface of the radiation detector can be increased readily and adequately by arranging the plurality of optical members so that the entrance end faces thereof are placed on the substantially identical plane, bonding the mutually adjoining side faces of the optical members with the adhesive, and growing the scintillator on the entrance end faces integrated.